Our Terms and Conditions

YOUR CONTRACT IS WITH Esplora Ltd of 16 Cockcroft Place, Cambridge, CB3 0HF, with company registration number 06733585. In these Booking Conditions references to “you” and “your” include the first named person on the booking and all persons on whose behalf a booking is made or any other person to whom a booking is added or transferred.

Please note that:

• We are a Member of ABTA with member number Y6134.
• If for any reason you cancel your booking, cancellation charges will apply and may be up to 100% of the booking cost details of which are set out below.
• You may make amendments to your booking but there will be a charge for this as set out below.
• You should take out travel insurance that is appropriate to your needs at the time of booking or before.

1. Tour reservation and booking
   • To make a booking we must receive a completed booking form via our website. On receipt of the necessary booking form and any documentation we will confirm whether your requested booking is available (usually within 2 days) and ask you to pay the relevant deposit (usually 20% of the total tour price) within 7 days using the method you indicated on your booking form. On receipt of cleared funds, and subject to the availability of your chosen booking, we will issue our confirmation invoice at which point a contract will exist between us.
   • The final balance of your tour must be paid at least 75 days before departure date. If the balance is not paid in time we reserve the right to cancel your tour and apply cancellation charges as set out below.
   • When a booking is made within 75 days of departure the full amount of the tour must be paid at the time of booking.
2. Your holiday contract:
   • When you make a booking you guarantee that you have the authority to accept and do accept on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions. A contract will exist as soon as we issue our confirmation invoice. This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions, which are governed by English Law, and the jurisdiction of the English Courts. You may however choose the law and jurisdiction of Scotland or Northern Ireland if you live there and wish to do so.
3. ABTA
   • We are a Member of ABTA, membership number Y6134. We are obliged to maintain a high standard of service to you by ABTA’s Code of Conduct. We can also offer you ABTA’s scheme for the resolution of disputes which is approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute. If we can’t resolve your complaint, go to www.abta.com to use ABTA’s simple procedure. Further information on the Code and ABTA’s assistance in resolving disputes can be found on www.abta.com.
4. Your holiday price
   • We reserve the right to alter or correct errors of the prices of any of the holidays shown on our website at any time prior to booking. You will be advised of the current price of the holiday that you wish to book before your contract is confirmed.
   • We can change your holiday price after you’ve booked, only in the following circumstances: i) Changes in the price of the carriage of passengers resulting from changes to the cost of fuel or other power sources; ii) the level of taxes or fees imposed by third parties including tourist taxes, landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports; or iii) exchange rates. However there will be no change within 20 days of your departure. We will absorb and you will not be charged for any increase equivalent to 2% of the price of your travel arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges. If this means that you have to pay an increase of more than 8% of the price of your travel arrangements, you will have the option of accepting a change to another holiday if we are able to offer one (if this is of lower quality you will be refunded the difference in price), or cancelling and receiving a full refund of all monies paid, except for any amendment charges
   • Should you decide to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within the time specified on the surcharge invoice.
   • Should the price of your holiday go down due to the changes mentioned above, then any refund due will be paid to you. We will deduct from this refund our administrative expenses incurred. Please note that travel arrangements are not always purchased in local currency and some apparent changes have no impact on the price of your travel due to contractual and other protection in place.
5. If you change your booking
   • If, after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to change your travel arrangements in any way, for example your chosen departure date, we will try hard to accommodate these changes. However, it may not always be possible. Any request for changes to be made must be in writing from the person who made the booking. You will be asked to pay an administration charge of £100 and any further cost we incur in making this alteration. You should be aware that these costs could increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made and you should contact us as soon as possible. Certain travel arrangements may not be changeable after a reservation has been made and any alteration request could incur a cancellation charge of up to 100% of that part of the arrangements as well as the cost of rebooking that element.
   • Any requests for a change in departure date must be made at least 75 days prior to the scheduled departure.
   • You can transfer your booking to another person, who satisfies all the conditions that apply to this booking, by giving us notice in writing as soon as possible and no later than 7 days before departure. Both you and the new traveller are responsible for paying all costs we incur in making the transfer.
6. If you cancel your holiday
   • You, or any member of your party, may cancel your travel arrangements at any time. Written notification from the person who made the booking must be received at our offices. Since we incur costs in cancelling your travel arrangements, you will have to pay cancellation charges as follows:
     

     Number of days prior to tour start	Cancellation fee per person
     more than 75 days	15% of tour price
     75 – 57 days	25% of tour price
     56 – 43 days	50% of tour price
     42 – 28 days	75% of tour price
     Less than 28 days	no refund

   • Note: If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your travel insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.
   • You can cancel your booking without paying cancellation charges if the performance of your package, or the carriage of passengers to your destination, is significantly affected by unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. In such circumstances, we will arrange for your booking to be terminated and for you to receive a full refund.
7. If We Change or Cancel Your Holiday
   • As we plan our tour arrangements many months in advance we may occasionally have to make changes or cancel your booking and we reserve the right to do so at any time.
   • Changes

     If we make a significant change to your tour, we will inform you as soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure. You will have the choice of either accepting the change of arrangements, accepting an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard from us if available (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value), or cancelling your holiday and receiving a full refund of all monies paid. We will tell you the procedure for making your choice. Please read any notification of changes carefully and respond promptly as if you do not respond to us within the timescale given your booking may be cancelled. These options don’t apply for insignificant changes. Examples of insignificant changes include change of accommodation to another of the same or higher standard, small changes of itinerary (for example, of timings or durations of visits, or the substitution of one place of interest for another).

   • Cancellation

     Whilst we will endeavour not to do so we must reserve the right to cancel your booking where we deem it necessary. We will not cancel your travel arrangements less than 8 weeks before your departure date, except for except for unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances or failure by you to pay the final balance, or if a minimum of 6 clients is not reached by 8 weeks before date of commencement of trip. If we cancel a tour you will receive prompt and full refund of all money paid to Esplora Ltd for the tour.

   • We adhere strictly to all current advice from the British Foreign Office on the safety of our travel destinations. If part of a destination is deemed unsafe to travel to due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, we will amend our itinerary appropriately. In cases where it is not possible to amend our itinerary or the whole territory of a destination is deemed unsafe to visit we will cancel the holiday and refund any money in full that you have paid to us.
   • Unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances can include (but not be limited to) such things as war, riot, industrial dispute, terrorist activity and its consequences, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions, epidemics and pandemics, unavoidable technical problems with transport.
8. If you have a complaint
   • If you have a problem during your tour, your first point of contact is your tour manager who will immediately endeavour to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved locally, please follow this up within 28 days of your return home by writing to our Customer Services Department at 16, Cockcroft Place, Cambridge CB3 0HF giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. Please keep your letter concise and to the point. It is strongly recommended that you communicate any complaint to the supplier of the services as well as to our tour manager. If you fail to follow this simple procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were on the tour and this may affect your rights under this contract. Please also see clause 4 above on ABTA.
9. Our liability to you
   • You must inform us without undue delay of any failure to perform or improper performance of the travel services included in your booking. If the contract we have with you is not performed or is improperly performed by us or our suppliers we will pay you appropriate compensation if this has caused loss or damaged or affected the enjoyment of your travel arrangements. However we will not be liable where any failure in the performance of the contract is due to: i) you or another member of your party; or, ii) a third party unconnected with the provision of the travel arrangements and where the failure is unforeseeable or unavoidable; iii) or unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Our liability, except in cases involving death, injury or illness, shall be limited to a maximum of 3 times the cost of your travel arrangements. Our liability will also be limited in accordance with and/or in an identical manner to (a) The contractual terms of the companies that provide the transportation for your travel arrangements. These terms are incorporated into this contract; and (b) Any relevant international convention, for example the Athens Convention in respect of travel by sea, the Berne Convention in respect of travel by rail and the Paris Convention in respect of the provision of accommodation, which limit the amount of compensation that you can claim for death, injury, delay to passengers and loss, damage and delay to luggage. We are to be regarded as having all benefit of any limitation of compensation contained in these or any conventions. You can ask for copies of the transport contractual terms, or the international conventions, from Esplora Ltd. If any payments to you are due from us, any payment made to you by the supplier concerned will be deducted from anything we owe you. Please note: this clause does not apply to any separate contracts that you may enter into for excursions or activities whilst on holiday or for any arrangements you enter into to meet the departure of your tour e.g. an airline.
10. Prompt asistance while on tour
    • If you’re in difficulty whilst on holiday and ask us to help we will provide appropriate assistance, in particular by providing information on health services, local authorities and consular assistance; and helping you to find alternative arrangements and any necessary phone calls/emails. You must pay any costs we incur, if the difficulty is not our fault.
11. Passport, Visa and Immigration Requirements
    • Your specific passport and visa requirements, and other immigration requirements are your responsibility and you should confirm these with the relevant Embassies and/or Consulates. We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements.
    • You should check for any such requirements prior to booking and again in good time before departure as any such requirements may have changed.
12. Excursions
    • Excursions or other tours that you may choose to book or pay for whilst you are on holiday are not part of your package holiday provided by us. For any excursion or other tour that you book, your contract will be with the operator of the excursion or tour and not with us. We are not responsible for the provision of the excursion or tour or for anything that happens during the course of its provision by the operator.
13. Getting to the tour start and departure
    • You are responsible for your own transport for arriving at the advertised tour departure point. By prior written agreement with the us we may be able pick you up on the tour start day from a nearby hotel free of charge, but this must be arranged in advance. We will also undertake to drop you at the agreed departure point on the day of departure. In the case of clients extending their holidays you will be responsible for your own transport to the airport.
14. Payment methods
    • Our preferred method of payment is by bank transfer. This is quick, easy and secure and there is no charge for paying this way. When making a bank transfer from the US, Canada or Australia, you may find it cheaper to use an online broker. Please contact us for suggestions on how this works.
    • For customers in the UK and EU we can also accept payment by personal credit card, debit card and cheque drawn on a UK bank.
    • For customers outside the UK/EU, we can also accept payment by debit card or credit card but there is a 3.5% fee for payment by this method.
    • Regrettably we cannot accept payments by company business cards.
    • For any payment made less than 75 days before travel, we can only accept payment by bank transfer.
    • If you are unsure about how to pay, please feel free to contact us.
15. Code of conduct
    • When you sign up for one of our tours, you agree to abide by the decision of your Esplora Ltd guide. If you behave in such a way as to endanger the safety and welfare of the tour party, or their enjoyment, or act in any way which is abusive, threatening, or hostile, our guides have the right to ask you to leave the holiday immediately and there will be no refund payable. On unescorted excursions we rely on you to act sensibly and prudently at all times and to comply with local codes of conduct. You will agree to reimburse us for all losses and/or damages that we incur but which arise from any act of misconduct on your part or anyone in your party.
    • Esplora Ltd does not tolerate any form of abuse, verbal or otherwise, of our personnel. Any person abusing or threatening Esplora Ltd personnel or associated representatives will be asked to leave the holiday immediately.
16. Travel Insurance
    • It is a requirement of booking with Esplora Ltd that you have adequate personal travel insurance to cover the eventualities of your trip.
    • You are strongly advised to insure yourself against possible risks that may occur and in particular to ensure that you have sufficient pre-departure cancellation cover which includes dependent relatives upon whom your trip may depend. You should make sure your insurance includes escorted/led travel, as this is specific to the type of holiday we offer. You are required to carry proof of insurance with you and produce it if requested by company employees or suppliers.
    • You are responsible for ensuring that you are in possession of a valid travel insurance for the entire duration of your trip in respect of medical expenses, medical emergency repatriation (including helicopter and air ambulance) and death. You must ensure that there are no exclusion clauses which limit cover for the type of activities included in your tour as we will not be responsible for costs you may incur as a result of not having valid or adequate travel insurance. It is the responsibility of all our clients to declare any material facts including known medical conditions to their insurers, as failure to do so may result in a claim being reduced or declined.
17. Health & Fitness for travel
    • It is your responsibility to tell us before you book of any disability or medical condition which may affect your holiday arrangements or there booking. All such information must be confirmed in writing before or at the time of booking. A reasonable level of fitness is required for our holidays and excursions as some walking over rough ground can be involved. If you are in any doubt about the suitability of any of our holidays please just ask and we can advise you on its suitability for you and any adjustments we can make.
    • Our tours are “activity” holidays and clients are expected to satisfy themselves prior to booking that they are fit and able to complete the itinerary of their chosen holiday as described in the brochure and on our website. If in doubt please speak to us. If it transpires that you are not sufficiently fit, or are affected by any condition, medical or otherwise, that might affect your or other people’s enjoyment of the holiday, you may be asked to opt out of certain visits, or invited to leave the tour altogether at your own expense.
18. Photography & promotional material
    • We may use photographs or videos of our tours to create promotional material. We retain the right for any likeness or image of you taken on one of our tours may be used by Esplora Ltd without charge in all media (whether now existing or in the future invented) for promotional or marketing purposes, including without limitation promotional materials of any kind such as brochures, slides, video shows or the internet. If you do not wish to consent to us using your image in such a way, it is your obligation to communicate this to us in writing.
19. Data Protection
    • In order to process your booking and to ensure that your travel arrangements run smoothly and meet your requirements we need to process your personal data such as your name, address, email, any relevant medical issues, disabilities, and dietary requirements etc.
    • We take full responsibility for ensuring that proper security measures are in place to protect your personal data. We must pass some data on to the relevant suppliers of your travel arrangements such as hotels, transport companies etc. The information may also be provided to security or credit checking companies, public authorities such as customs/immigration if required by them, or as required by law.
    • Additionally, where your holiday is outside the UK or European Economic Area (EEA) we put in place appropriate protections to make sure your personal data remains adequately protected..
    • You are entitled to a copy of your information held by us. If you would like to see this please contact us.